Kids’ art work organized on the wall in frames.

Every year I promise I will get better at organizing my kids’ art projects, school projects, etc.. To be honest I still have the bags of items that came home from school and need to be sorted through in my office closet. This used to be the bane of my existence because I loved everything they created, beat myself up over needing to keep it for them [and us], and at the same time was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity. Here are a few suggestions of how to tame the stuff:

1. Buy Frames for Special Art. The pieces we love go on the wall in our dining room. Nicely displayed in matching frames I purchased at Michael’s. They come in different sizes and you can open them easily so I can slip in new pieces and remove the old ones when the time comes. These types of frames are often on sale. Just buy lots of them if you care about them matching.

2. Create a Designated Place for All School Work/Art.I put two [I have 2 kids] file folders [the accordion type] in a file drawer with each of my kid’s names & school year on the front. When items come home I look them over to see if anything still needs to be done with them, then I put it all in the folder. This includes report cards, art, work, etc… I can cull through that pile any time. Don’t forget to put a name and date on each piece.

Accordion file with my kids’ school/art for the year

3. Buy a Large Tupperware for Each Child. After I have culled through the yearly accordion file I move them to a tupperware I created for each of my kids. I keep the accordion files by year in the tupperware. Larger art pieces go in the tupperware along the edge. Don’t forget to date these items.

A few reminders:

• Take the first pass at their art/school work file without kids. Then you can include them to see what is important to them.
• Write your child’s name and grade/age on items as you file them. Especially if you have more than one child.
• It’s not too early to create a storage system–even if you have a very young child. The amount of work created will only increase as they get older.
• Whatever you do, make it easy for yourself. If it’s not easy you won’t do it.

How do you store your kids’ stuff? What works best?